English and German derivation revisited

Abstract

Abstract Today, a number of etymologically related native and non-native English and German suffixes derive nouns and adjectives from entire phrases, suggesting that these suffixes have evolved clitic-like properties. By providing a diachronic analysis of dictionary entries that is underpinned by corpus searches, this paper traces how this property of the schemas of German ‑ig, ‑er and ‑ismus and of English ‑y, ‑er and ‑ism has evolved in the respective languages. The present analysis reveals that some developments appear to have taken place in parallel, while others are language-specific, which offers novel insights to our understanding of diachronic change affecting morphological schemas.